To the Depths of My Heart

Science

A call came in to the NOAA office on Friday afternoon. Tom, of course, was the first to answer the call, anxious as he was to get some field work and prove himself. Though he'd been on the job for a year, he was mostly relegated to the office, typing reports, doing research, all menial work as far as he was concerned. He was still considered the new guy.

He caught sight of his reflection as he passed the mirrored glass of the Director's office and mused at how he'd changed. No longer the golden boy of his youth, time had taken its toll. His blond curls were, once again, shorn close and had darkened to a light brown. There were crows feet around his eyes, the effects of summers spent in the sun evident in them. He carried himself with a studious air, even having picked up a hint of an accent in his time abroad. His mother, Kama, neither would recognize him now – he barely recognized himself.

After his accident, Tom endured months of physical therapy. In his down time, he devoured the books Kama left for him, studying each in detail. Once he was fully recovered, he applied for schools and scholarships – his winnings from surfing were depleted to cover medical costs. As luck would have it, he managed to land a spot at the University of Greenwich in England. The school boasted the Greenwich Maritime Institute, touted as one of the best in the world, and awarded him a full fellowship. Tom jumped at the chance.

At the time in his life when he should have been enjoying himself and studying what he loved, Tom found the most trying. While he was overseas, his mother passed away, the result of an unhealthy lifestyle that caught up with her. Kama helped as best he could with the arrangements, but, in the end, there was no money to pay for her burial and services, not that anyone would attend if they'd been held. She was declared insolvent, cremated and ashes interned in a public vault. Tom, unable to get back home to say goodbye, was inconsolable and would have given up his studies, if not for the intervention, once more of Kama.

His benefactor, father-figure, friend, talked Tom out of dropping from school by threatening to kill Tom himself if he did. It wasn't much of a pep talk, but Kama was never the type to say anything more than, "Haole, you're stupid if you think I wouldn't kill you for coming back home. What do you think your poor mother would do if she knew you thought about it?"

Tom laughed at first, the fact that, after all the years he'd lived on the island, that Kama still insisted on calling him "Haole," though now it was a term of endearment between the two of them, rather than a slight. "I know," he finally groaned, "She'd be disappointed."

"Damn straight, she would," Kama replied. "Get your head on straight, boy."

It was enough to encourage Tom to finish, and he did, graduating with honors, top of his class, garnering himself a Masters Degree in Marine Biology. Kama attended his graduation, congratulating him with a clap on the back and a proud, "You did it, Haole."

That first summer, Tom returned to Hilo. His mother's apartment was already cleaned out, refurbished and re-rented, so he had little choice but to sleep on the futon in Kama's living room. He found himself once again working in Kama's shop while he looked for a position related to his new degree, only, this time, he was the one instructing a new boy, teaching him how to sand and paint and wax and polish. Though his doctors warned against it, he even found himself on a surf board, once again, showing the youth how to surf, precariously balancing on a board for the first time since his accident. He was frightened and thrilled and anxious all together, but he was home.

When the call came to hire him on at the Washington coast NOAA station, Tom was convinced his degree was useless, that he was meant to be in Hawaii forever, not that he minded. He almost wanted it to be true, but he knew if he gave up, Kama would never let him hear the end of it. In fact, he could almost imagine Kama telling him, "Haole, this is not the life meant for you now. Maybe when you're an old man, like me, but not now." The discussion never happened because, after weighing pros and cons, Tom took the job.